We don’t seek to respond to every cultural crisis that raises its head, instead we preach the gospel faithfully and seek to contextualise it as best we can. Sometimes though, a crisis comes to our attention through broader media coverage that is not only good for us to respond to, in fact it is necessary, a requirement.

I’m sure that by now we have all heard of the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of those most trusted to protect life. Sadly his death has not been the only one but it is the latest to come to light and it has created wider awareness of the damage that racism is still wreaking on society.

It has impacted my thoughts greatly this past week, and on my personal social media account I have shared some useful blog posts which can be found here:

https://www.hopechurchguildford.com/post/racism-is-more-than-murder

https://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/responding_to_a_traumatic_week

In Ben Lindsay’s book – ‘We need to talk about race’ he writes this:

With this in mind, I wanted to put something down on paper so that we as BFC are not staying silent on an issue that is both systemic and personal, international and local.

At BFC, we are believers in the Good News of Jesus, the gospel that restores our relationship with the God of Justice. God has put His own likeness in us, the image of God (Imago Dei). We are all, people of all races, colours and creeds; image bearers of God. One thing we can be assured of is that God is the God of justice, and therefore that He demands justice. We are all created equal in value and worth of dignity, and we should seek to treat one another (those we know and those we don’t) with the same level of worth and dignity, as we would hope be treated with ourselves.

Malachi 6:8 tells us that we are to “…act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.”

Let us be a people who act justly and consider our own hearts humbly as we walk with God. Let’s not just let this crisis pass us by, but instead take some time to reflect on our own hearts as well as to set time aside to pray for this ongoing situation, that justice may finally be served and equality fully realised.

This Sunday evening we are gathering online to pray and I’d love for us to pray into this unfolding situation.

With love

Craig